Page 5 of Hunted

“You have it. You told me not to tell you I’m planning my next kid with Aerin, so I won’t.”

I know that I’m not the biological father of the child Aerin is carrying. That doesn’t matter to me. I’ve loved Aerin almost from the moment I saw her, and I would do anything for her and the baby. That child is mine in every way but blood.

We’ve both spoken about wanting more. Maybe not a football team like we once joked, but I love the idea of having a big family full of laughter and happiness, the occasional argument too, which is only natural. And so would Aerin.

He chuckles and returns to his task. “How do you know you even want two?”

I take a second to consider my response. “When I met Aerin, I just… I guess I felt that was it. She’s mine, and I want a family with her.”

“Spanner.”

I hand Bennett the spanner. “But the thought of moving further out-of-town doesn’t feel right. At least not yet. You know?”

“That wasn’t the spanner.”

I hand him something else from the tool kit. “And my dad… getting him on the phone these last few days has been impossible. I keep trying not to think of what he and Aerin’s aunt are getting up to. But I do. He hasn’t mentioned it, so I’m not sure if he’s waiting for me to ask about them. What do you think?”

Bennett lifts his head from his engine with a weary sigh and tosses the tools I handed him in the kit. “I think you’ll have real problems if you ever break down on the side of the road. How can you not know what a spanner is?”

Colton walks over and peers into the toolkit, whistling as he shakes his head. “You need help. Or at least someone to organize that for you. That is a mess.”

“I know where everything is,” Bennett mutters. He rummages around in his tool kit, plucks a spanner from it, and returns to fixing whatever is wrong with the engine.

“What does Aerin think about moving?” Colton asks me.

“I haven’t asked her yet. I think she likes living close to Adela and her grandparents, but we need more space and there’s no option of extending.”

I might have entertained the idea of an extension a few months ago, but time is short. And after the baby is here, I couldn’t think of anything I’d like to do less than have some building project take over the time I’d want to spend with her and the baby.

Gregory and Jude, Aerin’s grandparents, have settled in so well into the pack that it’s like they’ve always been here. Aerin visits them a couple times a week, and they often stop by for dinner, movie night, and the weekly pack run.

If we move further away, it’s going to be harder for her to see them. They’re getting old, so prefer not to drive far, and Aerin is going to be busy with a newborn.

“What do you think about buying up a big plot of land just outside town and all of us living together like a proper pack?” I suggest.

Colton and Bennett look at me.

“Together?” Bennett echoes.

I cross my arms and lean my hip on the side of the car. “I know we all came to Winter Lake with our own issues and problems. Living apart and figuring out pack life together worked.”

That’s what we all needed at the time.

Tina and Warren live together. Colton moved in with Penny in her little house. Adela lives with Aerin’s grandparents. Zoe is happy with Chris in his house. And I’m happy with Aerin in what was my house, but is now our home.

“Aerin still keeps calling it my house,” I say. “It’s always, ‘let’s go to Mack’s house,’ or ‘we’re meeting at Mack’s house,” no matter how many times I tell her it’sours. Maybe having something we build together will make it feel like more of her home as well, and she’d still be close to her grandparents. Closer, even.”

Bennett tilts his head as he scrutinizes me. “Some of us have lived alone for a long time. Sharing space like that won’t be easy.”

I know.

We’re all in our twenties now, and all of us have had to deal with things some shifters might never have had to. Shifters have always functioned better in a pack than alone, just like wolves.

For different reasons, we all had to leave our old packs. They didn’t want us. We lost everyone we knew, or they chased us out.

It’s why living apart was what we needed.

We got to know each other better on pack runs, but could retreat to our separate homes at the end of each day.

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